7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Produced by George Martin is a feature length profile of Sir George Martin, Britain's most celebrated record producer. The films talk about his childhood, his war experience and his early days as a music student. In the early 50s he joined EMI/Parlophone and started working on orchestral music, comedy records and music for children. Then in 1962 he signed The Beatles. Together George Martin and The Beatles revolutionized pop music and recording techniques forging probably the greatest producer / artist collaboration ever. The film is an intimate portrait of George at home and work. It features numerous classic clips of the artists he produced and new interviews with any of them including Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Michael Palin, Jeff Beck, Rolf Harris, Cilla Black, Millicent Martin and Bernard Cribbins.
Starring: George Martin (I), Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Margaret Asher, Jeff Beck (I)Music | 100% |
Documentary | 55% |
Biography | 20% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
George Martin is one of a very few record producers whose name is generally (and sometimes instantly) recognized by the public at large. In these days of MP3s and downloaded music without documentation, fewer and fewer people seem to care about anyone whose name isn’t emblazoned across the front of a virtual CD. But in days of yore, when physical media was still literally large and in charge, some of us used to peruse the backs of LP covers and read every last little jot and tittle to fully immerse ourselves in how whatever we were listening to had come to pass. Some of us really intrepid souls would even take a magnifying glass to the inner label on the album to get songwriter credits, if those happened not to be included on the back cover under the song titles. But Martin’s legendary work with The Beatles elevated his name to iconic status, to the point where people simply didn’t even really need to worry about the credits. If you were listening to The Beatles, you knew you were listening to a collaborative effort between The Fab Four and their remarkable producer, a producer who also often contributed arranging and orchestrating duties to their albums. What few on this side of the pond may realize is that Martin had already had a long and successful career for years before The Beatles kind of stumbled into his veritable lap, and even when he was producing The Beatles, and for years after they disbanded, Martin continued to churn out an alarmingly wide array of product for the international market. Produced by George Martin is a lovely retrospective of this giant’s work, with an elderly but still surprisingly spry Martin reminiscing over a history that saw him working with everyone from Peter Sellers to novelty bans to a who’s who of major rock and pop artists of the 1960’s, 1970’s and beyond.
Produced by George Martin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, Arena and Grounded Productions with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. While there's nothing really overly remarkable about the video presentation here, the contemporary interview and "confessional" segments pop rather nicely, with good clarity and sharpness, pleasing fine object detail and very good contrast and stability. As should be expected, the various archival footage is sourced from different formats and varies widely in quality. Some of the older Beatles footage frankly looks pretty ragged, and some old color footage of them in the studio has faded pretty badly. Some of the other snippets vary from horrible (That Was the Week That Was) to actually pretty good (the Cilla Black Alfie snippet). Overall, though, this may not be a "wow" video offering but as a documentary which includes so much footage of incredible historical interest, it suffices very well indeed.
Produced by George Martin's uncompressed LPCM 2.0 audio option sounds excellent and it also has one of the widest stereo separations in recent memory, something that really rings out in several key sequences (listen to when Paul McCartney and Martin are discussing hearing loss and various oscilloscope playbacks are included to how clearly various frequencies are panned way right or left). Fidelity is excellent throughout this enterprise, with the contemporary interview sequences sounding great, and the older archival elements sounding as good as could be hoped for given their age.
As has been the case with a lot of Eagle Rock releases lately, all of the Bonus Features (1080i; 52:28) are authored together as a block, and accessing the separate titles simply takes you to chapter stops within that block. The individual titles are:
Produced by George Martin is a lovely trip down memory lane for those of us who grew up with some of Martin's now legendary work. What a sweet, mild mannered yet impeccably brilliant man Martin seems to be throughout this documentary. While there's an undeniable sadness just beneath the surface here, the triumph of Martin's incredible accomplishments makes this piece a celebratory triumph of spirit and determination. Those of you who know Martin's name and work will certainly want to watch this; those of you who are part of the download generation and wouldn't recognize a producer's name if it reached out and grabbed you by your lapels should do yourselves a favor and get to know one of the most important men in 20th century music. Highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2011
1987
2011
with Bonus Disc
2012
1988
2015
The Legend of Motörhead
2010
2-Disc Ultimate Edition
2008
2015
2012
2019
2012
2013
2018
2019
2013
2013
Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition
2005
2021
2013